1. Field of the Invention
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to monitoring of transport pipes, and more specifically, to a method, apparatus, and system for monitoring a state of a fluid transport pipe.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of industrial technologies, pipe transport technology has become more and more mature and has spread around the world. For example, pipes may be used to transport various fluids, such as water, oil, liquefied petroleum gas, etc. Compared with traditional transport modes in which transport is implemented using various means of transportation, pipe transport technology has advantages such as convenience, quickness, large transport volume and so on. However, transport pipes need daily maintenance, e.g., examining and repairing pipe leaks caused by pipe aging, natural disasters and the like. Besides natural damage, thefts or accidents might damage transport pipes.
In industrial applications, fluid transport pipes are typically laid in an area with relatively bad environmental conditions and have an extremely long span, usually on the order of thousands of kilometers. For a transport pipe of thousands of kilometers in length, timely fault discovery and repair can hardly be ensured based on the technical status quo. However, if faults cannot be discovered and repaired in time, then large-scale leaks might be caused, and then economic losses coupled with catastrophic consequences, such as environmental pollution, might follow.